The core center will be based at the University of São Paulo (USP), the highest ranked University in Latin America. Two other major partners with a strong tradition in training and health research will join USP in this effort, the Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia (UPCH) in Peru and the Institute of Nutrition of Central America and Panama (INCAP) in Guatemala. These are centers of the Global Health Alliance for Chronic Diseases.

In an effort to disseminate the training capacity two upcoming regional research sub-centers in Ecuador and Colombia would also join the training network.

This network will be supported by strong academic centers in the fields of interest in the US and Europe. Other institutions involved are: London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Northwestern University, Puget Health Cooperative, University of Washington, University of Perth, University of Palo Alto, and Columbia University.

There is strong connection with all the other hubs involved in this initiative: PAM-D (Nigeria, South-Africa, Ghana, Kenya and Liberia), AFFIRM (Sub-Saharan Africa),SHARE (India & Pakistan), RedeAmericas (Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Columbia).

This is one of the five hubs awarded by US-NIMH to increase research capacity that can create better strategies to reduce the mental illness treatment gap in resource-poor settings. The three main driving principles for this proposal are:

A) to build capacity with a focus on strengthening within-region efforts so that sustainability and autonomy can be rapidly achieved.

B) to go beyond the traditional boundaries of mental health and develop strategic partnerships with other disciplines and health-research groups, and

In order to achieve this aim we established a regional hub to carry out relevant mental health research and training to increase research capacity in the region. The core centre is based at the University of São Paulo (USP) with another major sub-center based in Peru (Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia) and three satellite centers in Ecuador, Guatemala and Colombia. This network is supported by strong academic centers in the fields of interest in the US and Europe. Two main activities constitute the foundation of our proposal:

1) a research component with two core research projects focusing on assessing the effectiveness of a mobile phone intervention assisted by an nurse assistant for the treatment of depression among individuals with chronic physical diseases identified in general medical settings in Brazil and Peru. One of the major barriers to the treatment of mental disorders is the sheer lack of trained specialized human resources. This intervention will address this problem by shifting tasks to this automated mobile phone intervention, thereby taking advantage of the huge penetration of mobile phones in the region.

2) To build increased mental health research capacity in the region through a research training program delivered by a network involving the University of São Paulo in Brazil, the Latin American network for the Global Alliance for Chronic Disease, University of Washington and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. The strategy will include: 1) greater prominence to South-South collaboration; 2) focus on a multiplying strategy starting with the strengthening of a solid research hub and gradual expansion to other sub-centers in a large mutually supportive research network; and 3) more efficient methods of delivering training with improved accessibility. The capacity building component prioritizes training in research methodologies that can generate sound evidence on the best strategies to reduce this gap, allowing ‘hands-on’ training for researchers. In both components due importance is given to issues related to scaling up and policy making, including the creation of a highly qualified advisory board and consultation with a range of stakeholders throughout the life of the project.

This is one of the five hubs awarded by US-NIMH to increase research capacity that can create better strategies to reduce the mental illness treatment gap in resource-poor settings. The three main driving principles for this proposal are:

A) to build capacity with a focus on strengthening within-region efforts so that sustainability and autonomy can be rapidly achieved.

B) to go beyond the traditional boundaries of mental health and develop strategic partnerships with other disciplines and health-research groups, and

Since our last update, there have been two meetings of our study groups.

On March 30th, 2017, the 8th Latin-MH Study Group Meeting was held. The theme was "IntelliCare - Mobile Apps for Depression and Anxiety". This group had as a speaker Dr. Kenneth Weingardt, being transmitted online. If you participated, do not forget to tell us how the experience was responding to our meeting evaluation form sent by email. If you could not be, no problem! Our video has been recorded and is already on Youtube! To access, just click here!

As early as May 29th, 2017, the 9th Latin-MH Study Group Meeting was held, with the theme "New Technologies for Mental Health Assistance". In this group, we had the presence of Dr. Ines Hungerbühler, also transmitted online. Just like at our other meeting, if you participated, please respond to our evaluation sent by email. This meeting was also recorded and is available on our Youtube channel, to access it click here!

In addition, our PI, Dr. Paulo Rossi Menezes, participated in the "Transformative Opportunities for Solving the Global Challenges in Global Mental Health" held in Bethesda, NIMH headquarters, on May 8 and 9.

Finally, our new Newsletter was launched. To access it, just click on this link!

If you have any doubts or suggestions linked to the study, don't hesitate on sending an e-mail to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.! We'll be happy to answer it!

Projects Stages

Coming up

It's going to be held at August 22nd, 10am EST, our 10th Latin-MH Study Group with the theme "Digital Technology for Preventing Early Mortality Among People Living with Serious Mental Illnesses". This webinar will be presented by Dr. John A. Naslund, PhD from Dartmouth College, and will be held in English, online, via Adobe Connect. Come join and build capacity with us!

Latest events

It was held on May 29th our 9th Latin-MH Study Group with the theme "New Technologies for Mental Health Assistance". This theme, our study group was tutored by Dr. Ines Hungerbühler, PhD from University of São Paulo. The webinar was held via Adobe Connect, and this edition was in English. Watch it right now!

It was held on March 30th our 8th Latin-MH Study Group with the theme "IntelliCare - Mobile Apps for Depression and Anxiety". This time, the speaker was Dr. Kenneth Weingardt, PhD from Northwestern University. The webinar was held online via Adobe Connect, and this edition was in English. Watch the video right now!

Our 7th Study Group consisted in the debate "Primary-Care Professionals Mental Health: work-related factors" with Dr. Andréa Tenório, and it was held on February 31st. In this meeting we discussed the findings of ThePANDORA-SP Study. This webinar was broadcasted online via Adobe Connect and it happened in two sessions: one in portuguese and one in english. The link to the videos may be found below!